Frequently Asked Questions: 1. Why are you saying you don't have nails when we can see them at :38? I go back and forth between playing with and without nails. In this video, I have no nail. At :38, and in the thumbnail, I am showing a clip of when I had long nails from a past video. The idea here was to show those who might not be familiar what long nails for guitar look like. 2. Isn't Tárrega a bad example of no-nail proponents because he only got rid of nails because of a disease? It seems probably that he did lose his nails due to illness. However, after losing them and developing a no nail technique, he then went on to praise the sound and teach it to his students as an ideal. CORRECTION: It's been pointed out to me that the image I used of a Lautenwerk might not be correct.
I'm both gonna agree and disagree on the strength myth. Of course technique trumps strength, but even with good technique you're going to realize that strength matters if you try a bunch of barre-chords on a 12-string steel stringed guitar. But muscles also tends to make you dexterity worse - you could easily compare your dominant hand with the other... put your palms together and spread your fingers - you typically can spread your non dominant hand wider. When I studied to become an electrician and often used pliers to cut thick wires my dexterity significantly got worse - and my brother who kept on working as an electrician could as well play with hockey gloves on. PS. I don't like playing with nails - not found of the clickety sound or the feedback I get.
Wow sounds to me like there are a lot of pedantic people in the comment section. Dudes need to chill. This is a free video on the internet made by a dude, not a PBS special with professional researchers and fact checkers.
@@jonr4651 A commonly encountered issue these days. People forget that what someone else says is their own opinion, but what's more important, I think, is that some forget that people make these videos and that any of them can be right or wrong. Our world is not an exact science.
I spent years fighting with my poor nail condition due to the teacher, who told me I cannot play without them. The freedom I found after I just told myself I will do it my way without them gave me more than the years trying to overcome broken soft and fragile nails. Wish I found this video at that time. It would have given me the courage to do it sooner. Cheers Brandon. Love your content.
In some ways allowing your nails to grow longer and using them to play with, also makes them stronger. My guess is your picking technique may have been too heavy for what is needed. I see the same thing with people learning to play using a pick / plectrum and they almost push through a string, instead of plucking it properly. It's 99% technique and 1% nails. And that 1% is optional lol.
I believe Segovia did everyone a major disservice by claiming if you don't have good strong nails you shouldn't even try to play guitar.... In spite of his masterful playing, I believe his advice was flat wrong..
Coming from acoustic fingerstyle, I was tempted to put on acrylic finger nails. The wearing of the nails by steel strings especially for contemporary playing style is just too high.
@@chrisc7265 I strongly disagree with this. No fake nail would ever be as reliable as your natural nail. I don't think it is a common thing for classical guitarists to use fake nails at all.
Once again, Brandon, I feel like you've been sitting in on my practice sessions. "Don't blame your anatomy, fix your technique" is something I have to remind myself often. I go through a fumble-fingered moment of "I'm just not destined to be a guitar player," and then I tell myself, you know what, millions of other people have figured this out, so maybe I can too. Classical guitar is humbling, but SO gratifying when something begins to click.
I agree; nor practice isn’t always better. A few years ago I overdid practicing a difficult Chet Atkins passage and ended up with Focal Dystonia of the hand (my right hand). It’s a neurological injury-a repetitive strain injury where the signals from the brain to the hand become confused which resulted in a slightly slower response from my middle finger. It took ages before I was diagnosed, there is no cure and it could have been avoided. It was a traumatic time; I thought my playing days were over, which was serious as I’ve only ever been a professional musician. I had to learn to play many things differently (I had no choice!) but was able to continue playing, which was the main thing. Thank you for your informative and inspirational videos. Keep up the good work!
"Well, you should have just practiced harder." You can just feel that in your brain in the modern world. We don't really appreciate life anymore, its like we just think everything is this competition to be the best, rather than being life.
Thanks for sharing your experience. Brandon's pont on muscles in the hand is correct in my opinion. (But hard to comprehend )...My experience has been as yours to have to relearn using alternative techniques. ..for a while took ibuprofen to alleviate the pain...but haven't to play almost every day at gigs.. sometimes multiple in a single day...after a couple of years I didn't need medication had no pain...and noticed...I was playing relaxed...and my movements were efficient..the result of good practice and better technique
I've been playing the guitar (casually) for 17 years or so and I've always struggled with bar chords. Your gravity based solution blew my mind😮😳😳😳 thank you so much
Love your thoughts about fingernails. I’m a retired music educator and classical guitarist was my major instrument in college. I had very brittle nails and got the lecture about having nails on my right hand. I recognized the different timbre and couldn’t understand what was so wrong about it. You’re spot on about good form, too. I played electric guitar first and had a very bad habit of allowing my thumb to creep up the back of the neck. The old muscle memory was very hard to break. It inspired me to adjust the “practice makes perfect” to “perfect practice makes perfect.” I had another one I used to preach as a teacher. We are spoon fed the 3Ps (practice, practice, practice) to become the best musician. My 3Ps are just a little different: practice, perfect, perform.
It's very encouraging to find a guitarist talking about this! I love the guitar and I was devastated when my instructor and all the guitar players i knew told me i couldn't play classical guitar without nails. But I'm a nurse, I can't grow nails! God bless you, I'm very relieved 😂
This channel is proof that the internet, social networks, you tube and so on are only means in our hands, they are neither good nor bad. What you do in your channel is fantastic and until a few years ago it was impossible to have access to such a fantastic mine of information, music and talent concentrated in one channel. So fortunately there are still good and talented people in the world like Brandon Acker, able to rise above all the squalor that often surrounds us. Thank you and I wish you many many more years of success with this amazing channel!
Regarding #4, your fingers don't have any muscles in them and are mostly controlled by tendons which extend into your wrist (and some muscles in the hand itself but mostly for side-to-side movement). This means that if you are doing this "grip strength exercises", you are just improving the muscles in your forearm/wrist and not your fingers.
Thank you for your comment - to add to the "mostly" part of it - the thumb, which is usually more than strong enough has muscle in the hand and the forearm and of course the little finger (redundant in right hand plucking for most players) has also muscles in the hand as well as the forearm. Anyone wishing to see the truth of your comment in action has only to look closely at the back of their forearm and wiggle their fingers - it surprised me when I first tried it.
As a climber I can approve your answer and actually those equipment are only useful if you want to improve your grip strength but not to have more strength on the guitare. It's not the same type of moove att all (because your pushing with the top of your fingers when you play the guitare whereas this equipment trains your ability to close your hand which is very different)
I find my forearm of my fretting hand is much stronger doing forearm curls than my right, really goes to show the degree of muscle conditioning occurs from playing an instrument for many years
I have only ever played classical guitar with nails but since I’ve started playing the lute I don’t want them. I also love the sound of no nails on the guitar. It is a very warm and intimate sound. So to learn to play without nails I file down a little every day gradually making them shorter until they are the length I want. This way it’s not an extreme change all at once. Great video Brandon.
Thank Brandon. I appreciate your insight. One thing I might add, particularly with regard to hand strength is this, you don't need to choke the strings to get good sound. I asked one of my early guitar instructors "how hard, or how much pressure do I need to apply to the strings?" He never answered the question. I later found the answer, "just hard enough to intonate the string". Too much and you bend the string out of tune. Too little and it simply does not sound or sound good. Also good finger position relative to the fret is more important that pressure against the string. Thanks again for another great video!
As a self-taught hobby guitarist I couldn't agree more with your last arguments. I've learned so many things in the wrong way that it's almost impossible to get that out of my muscle memory and I really wish I had learned all of that basics properly. Now, when I practice the right way, I see and feel how much easier and "logical" it could be, but when I play it a bit faster, I fall back into the old habits that really keep me down and prevent progress because they cost way more energy. But well... at least I have a lot of patience and keep practising :-)
I am honestly still in that phase of trying to figure out what works best for me when playing guitar. There are so many factors to think about and I honestly didn't realize how much my mindset impacted my playing and practice as well. Thank you Brandon for the constant amazing content that makes us think and rethink things!
I'm a hard rock and metal guitarist. Recently, I've had to switch to bass and I found almost everything in this video applicable, so thanks very much. You and your grandpa's guitar magic are very appreciated.
Nicely done video with clear explanations. I'm not exactly a pro but I've never played classical with nails and I have tiny hands, so I can relate to the frustration as a beginner being exposed to these myths. Nowadays it's a non-issue.
When it comes to the finger strengtheners, the D'Addario one is actually quite nice since you can turn it around, and it has this sharp edge that sort of simulates a guitar string. It can be nice to keep up callouses if your without a guitar for a long time.
Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU, for your comments about how to practice! That is a huge MYTH that I challenged my students and their parents about. Please, do not practice mistakes 🙄 Much harder to fix ingrained bad habits than to play slow, deliberate, and accurate. There is a very old military typing course that was used that had you type one letter slow and meticulous - then take a break, do the same thing slowly adding one more letter with long breaks in-between... magically with seemingly no effort turning you into a decent typist. Careful correct practice brings accomplished musicians. ❤ Thanks for this video!
This was an excellent clinic. Several topics really drove home points for me. Small hand syndrome. And learning something by using bad techniques over and over which ends up doing more harm to player ability than almost anything else. It also wastes time. A precious commodity.
I agree with all myths. I've been playing guitar for 10 years now and I've learned on my own, with no teachers. The biggest myth i discovered was precisely about time of practice. It's a matter of cuality and not cuantity. Obviously some things will take long time but with good training in a good technique, most of the things will come easy. Nice video!!
I remember going to the Ambassador Auditorium in Pasadena. I heard Julian Bream and Göran Söllscher play (different times of course) without mics. I would always sit in the back (the cheap seats) of the auditorium; because the sound in this building resonated so well; so much so, that you didn't need to have a loud guitar.
YES!! As soon as I saw this I thought "you need nails" HAS to be first! I think that's how I first found your channel, learning classical guitar and not having nails and I wanted to know if I was wasting my time. I wasn't and I wonder how many people miss out on this amazing instrument because they believe this myth? THANK YOU!!!
This video is hella awesome. It distilled what it took me years to learn from slogging through method books and tracking down concert guitarists to get their "secrets." Now it's all out there on the tube, which will probably stimulate guitar technique to further evolve. And one more myth: you do not need perfect hair to play guitar (but it helps :)
2:30 I'm not a classical player but I encountered beginner friends with varying anatomies who prefer a classical guitar (despite not planning to learn classical style). I was baffled at first because I prefered the narrower and thinner neck of an electric as a beginner (still do). Lucky to live in a time where there are more choices
Brandon, one thing I think many students and teachers alike overlook is learning to listen. "Standing on the shoulders" of your idols and the masters will make you a better player! I feel this is true for all forms also. From classical to death metal and everything in between. Hear it, see it and play it.
Hey Brandon. I really appreciate your vids. You mentioned. Tarrega played without nails. Awhile back you put gut stings on your guitar, and you cut your nails because you said they would cut the strings. Tarrega couldn’t use anything but gut, because they hadn’t come out with nylon yet. Love the content. Keep it up.
@Brandon Acker Thanks for another wonderful and beautiful video. Not many people would say such a down to earth and humble person is actually one of the best guitarrists out there and always shares his very deep knowledge in such a clear, concise, and relaxed way. I can only imagine him as a teacher. I also bet not many could convey so much knowledge the way he can and in the way he does. Can't wait for my hands to get better and enroll in the online school. Much respect always.
I cannot agree more on the 7th myth. I started practicing tremolo about a year ago and did not properly research the techniques. My brain was focused on speed and nothing else. Few months later, I had the speed but it sounded like a horse running, there was a tiny lag that made my tremolo sound completely off. Now, instead of trying to unlearn(which seems even more difficult) I am slowly practicing the p-i-m-i style, and hopefully I will teach myself the correct way. Cheers Brandon!! Thank you for the lessons and magnificent content!!
I'm getting so good at fingernailess tremolo, thanks to your old video. Not Brandon level good, but getting there. It's so much more than simply your super helpful tips and insights, it's also your entire philosophy on life and positivity that shines through on these videos too which, has taught me so much about life through your music. I appreciate this channel so much, words can't begin to express... maybe money can express that though haha. I have to start giving back to channels that give so much to me. Supporting content creators is the heart of youtube, and googles financial greed is the arse. We appreciate you so much Brandon (and team!)
Your channel is fantastic your skill, breathtaking but this particular video is something wonderful beyond just the realm of stringed instruments the lessons you taught here can be taken with any watcher of this video to all aspects of life thank you for that I especially enjoyed the passage about quality over quantity when it comes to practice and how it's just as easy to reinforce bad habits as good ones the very best to you, always
Thanks for sharing all this experience with us,I played classical guitar in my younger days ,but family ,children ,mortgage etc took me away from the guitar, and because Ime a tradesman and work with my hands,my nails get ripped and torn all the time and was always a reason for frustration playing the guitar,great to know it’s not a problem,also I have big hands and find that a problem my fingers don’t seem to fit together,but you fixed that as well,so it’s back into the fray with less excuses and fresh perspective,thanks so much.
Myth #6 is my favorite. I grew up with a dad that only ever bought jumbo body acoustic guitars and has always told me the resonance in my guitar was terrible. I agree, it takes the charm out of the instrument and it quietness draws the listener in. Beautifully put!
Mr Acker, years ago, when I wrote to you from Argentina and, later, from Uruguay, I mistook your certainty for arrogance. Sorry: your instructive video is spot on. Thank you. . . . May I add (to your and every other teacher's arsenal of indispensable tips) this gem: the relation of the finger impulse and strike-path to that of the thumb, is identical to (and takes advantage of) the natural thumb/finger opposition design that has come down to us through millennia: A hand surgeon at the University of Saskatchewan (whose wife studied guitar with me) pointed out that when he reconstructed crushed hands, he attached suture (string) to the tips of each of the fingers, tying the other end of each to the same spot at the base of the thumb. Then, he simply lined up the bones in a straight line leading to the base of the thumb. (This explains our puzzling impression that every finger strike aims at the same spot on the string.) You'll notice when playing scales, that the base of the thumb feels like a bar against which each finger stroke lands, freeing the hand and arm from the tension-producing jerk of hand and arm when the potential energy in the initially yielding first joint of each playing finger snaps free of the string (rest- or free-stroke) . . . exactly like snapping your fingers on getting a good idea, when everything falls into place.)
I picked up my first classical guitar over the weekend (yippee!). I also play the harp and can't have long nails, so I'll be learning the fleshy finger technique! I've started Brandon's online course and it is fantastic. Very well organized and easy to follow. Highly recommend.
Thank you! I never had good reasoning for string tension before. Since I have no goals of playing in a huge loud concert hall, so I’m going to experiment with lower tension strings! And of course, nail retention was always nerve-racking when a concert was approaching. I don’t know how many times I ripped a nail before I had to perform.
Recomiendo mucho leer los consejos del maestro uruguayo Abel Carlevaro, al respecto de la posición del cuerpo, la sujeción de la,guitarra, la manera de pulsar las cuerdas, etc. Su lectura dará que pensar al futuro guitarrista y le ayudará a establecer las bases para un aprendizaje fructífero. Saludos desde España y un abrazo para Brandon.
Thank you so much for debunking the “you need big hands” myth. I’m a petite person with small hands and I agree that with practice I can adopt to playing on the larger classical guitar frets just as I was able to adapt to playing complex chords and arpeggios on the piano.
As a beginning guitarist, I struggled with the F major barre chord. A few months after I started studying, an old friend with short stubby fingers came over to my house and played some amazing music on the very guitar that I had purchased. I noticed he very adeptly played multiple barre chords. I know he never formally studied, so I asked him how he learned. He replied that he bought a couple of books and practiced a lot. With that advice, I worked at it and eventually learned that chord. The journey continues.
Nice, this is both basic skills and things you will need to learn later. Thank you. It is always good to see a really good player explain things clearly.
I feel like I can play a lot more types of sounds with nails than without. I can make very sharp and edgy sounds but also very warm and soothing sounds, that way I can make the piece I am playing a lot more divergent. The key is to take care of your nails well and in my opinion adjust the length… to the type of piece you are playing. I tend to have ‘medium’ nails when playing baroque music and shorter ones when playing tremolo pieces!
I like having nails too. I can play both ways but with nails i can get more volume for flamenco style music and i can still use the fleshy parts for a warmer tone if i want that (which i do normally for my steel string)
@@ohoangthien1551 oh nice I also play some piano and sometimes my nails are really confusing so if I want to do a big piano session I make my nails extremely short
I have played without nails for 32 of the 58 years I have played classical guitar. I was blessed by having Emilio Pujol's teaching assistant, Hector Garcia Hernandez, as my teacher. So I have the rational and experience of both formats, as did Garcia before studying with Emilio Pujol. It is a discovery process, sound, history, etc., and the guitarists, composers, and artisans who understood this format. Playing without nails can be as simple as no nails. Period. Or, extremely short nails as Virginia Luque. Pujol did not teach this process but allowed the student to discover their own path. Today it is fully accepted that playing with nails is mandatory, and in some circles this is prevalent. Globally that myth is challenged. So it is the dilemma of timbre that is the conversation, and personal preference. No you can't simply cut your nails and voila, you're set...instead it is a process , an engaging one at that!
I have been playing with no nails ever since I watched the video where you cut your nails. I love the sound and the feeling is so therapeutic and makes me feel so in touch with my guitar (edit goddam I just realized it's a pun and ruined my entire message)
So wonderful to hear and see your opinion! Especially delighted that you’ve added a historical perspective.I’ve never played with nails or a pick. I pluck, I like the way the strings feel on my fingertips, both nylon and steel. I use my thumb for plucking bass line. Picks always seemed to slow me down. 🙌No nails makes it have a more woodsy, natural mellow sound. But, it is how I play. I’m glad to hear that it is appreciated by some of the masters. Thank you🫶this is what was looking for. I still like a tuning fork😊
I agree with most of the statements. But a few remarks. First. Don't ignore your anatomy completely! Yes, in the beginning you should be patient and focus on the right technique. But if you don't get it right after a reasonable time, do consider your anatomy. A simple inspection and analysis of what goes wrong may help you more than desperately trying again and again, until you ruin your joints, tendons or hands irreversibly, not to mention general harm to your health. Self mutilation did and does occur with some players. So be warned. I had a problem with barre chords and tried every possible technique there is, for a long time. After watching the inside of my index finger I realized it was simply physically impossible. I fixed it with wrapping some tape at certain positions of the finger: problem solved! Second: I love shorter scale lengths, the ideal size for me is 24.75 inch (62.865 cm). The difference between 64 and 65 cm is too small to have effect. But, finding a factory built classical guitar with a 24.75 inch scale, but otherwise a normal sized body, is very hard to find, and it's getting worse with the years. I think it's for commercial reasons. Third: I prefer to play always with A = 440 Hz because it's the only way to develop some sense of absolute pitch and maintain the connection between the music in your head and the instrument. It has been shown that people with absolute pitch get confused if they are exposed for some time to another tuning standard, which by the way proves that absolute pitch is more a kind of good long term sound memory rather than some mysterious gift.
Thanks to you ive cut my nails after your gut strung version of Dowlands Pavan. Ive ordered the sweat gut strings from kurschner and after 1,5 months without nails after 3 years playing nylon and later nylgut strings i would say that the no nail brings a warmer. fuller and more beautiful authentic sound without any plastic sounds hidden in it. Its still alot of practice cause you have to some kind of learn it from start again to get the sound without nails that you are looking for. To the tuning part ive played 1 year in 440Hz and switched to 432 Hz, now its in 408 Hz Eflat from the 432 Hz tuning and to me it sounds more natural and brings more authentic flair to the old music. Thanks for your being and your steady inspiration i still cant wait until i have enough money to buy my first 7 course ren Lute. 🥰🎶
Great video. I studied some classical guitar at university but eventually mostly abandoned it in favour of steel string and other instruments and styles because of the nails, posture, and holds orthodoxy. A few years ago I got interested in early music and started researching early guitars and lute family instruments and eventually arrived at playing low tension strings, tuned down a half step, with finger tips and using a strap rather than a stool or some hold assist. Never been happier. Sometimes the academy can be stifling in that sense. Music is one of those topics that seems to collect myths about tradition and 'correct' ways of doing things to a high degree and I really encourage anyone who finds that discouraging to get out and do their own research. There have always been many, diverse ways of doing things. The idea that there is a single correct way to play really only applies for people who are intending to pursue international competition or playing large concert halls. Play music how you want!
The fingernails became a thing for me in my first year of music school. I was a guitar major taking classical lessons, but also playing a lot of electric bass and leaning more in a jazz direction. Those nails that gave a bright crisp sound on the guitar got in the way of the clean warm articulation that I wanted on the bass. I ended up switching my major instrument to upright bass and cutting my nails. But honestly, I liked the sound and feel of classical guitar without nails.
Thank you for busting these myths. After my classical guitar education I dropped playing with nails and it helped me a lot to be more accurate in timing and still could find all the sounds I needed while warm sounds were much easier to get. I eventually dropped classical music because it wasn't my passion. I do like Tarrega, Bach but a lot of repertoire was not my taste and wanted to create my own music and improvise. Now I play electric, steel string and classical guitar mostly fingerstyle in the pop, jazz genre. I'm interested in how you look at being left or right handed. I'm left-handed playing right handed and was worried about that a long time. Now I feel it's about synchronisation of both hands and often find out I'm actually focused on the wrong hand while working out a difficult part. Another interesting topic is the lack of improvisation and also playing by ear in classical training . Thanks for the video
Have you ever heard of the romantic guitar? It is meant to be played without nails. Personally, tremolo without nails sounds weak, it depends of the usage of course. I mostly play with nails (I'm a former classical guitarist) because the attack is precise and the timbre is pretty diverse. Also that punchy tone that properly sanded nails give. To all of you with weak nails, if you are beginner, your nails will become stronger after the first year. Trust me
Hey love the video! I though you might like this quote I learned many years ago "Practice makes permanence. Only perfect practice makes perfect playing."
Excellent piece and well supported positions. The only suggestion for the "nails" discussion may be to differentiate nail length. Modest nail length allows some expression control between "only nail" and "nail and fingertip" strokes. Long nails may be less expressive "only nail" strokes, perhaps with other advantages. Great job!
Just last week I tuned my guitar a half step down and I was surprised by how good and warm it sounded. Now I have a hard time going back to the standard tunning
Great video Brandon. I completely agree with your comments about Practice. I say something similar, "Its not practice makes perfect. Perfect practice makes perfect."
Switching to playing without nails has made most of the music I play more coherent by reducing the contrast in tone, but there are pieces that benefit from a more contrasty tone.
I have been interested in getting into playing classical and bossa nova guitar. However, I have seriously considered not even starting because I assumed that long nails were a requirement. I cannot stand having long nails. I am so relieved to hear that these are not required. Thank you for your videos! Your video on 5 common practice mistakes was also excellent!
something to consider is that during the time of Sor and Tarrega, they did not have metal wound or nylon strings. Gut strings feel really different and would most likely have accellerated wear if played with nails. While I feel I can play without nails, I feel as though my tone is much more limited as is my overall volume. Speed is also affected, but probably due to the fact that my brain is trying to compensate for the different feel/sound. For one of my exams, I had a nail crack during practice. I ended up gluing a cut up ping-pong ball, filing it down to size and attached it via super-glue. desperate? yes but it worked a pinch. Would have been unable to perform under the pressure otherwise.
THANK YOU!!!, BRANDON. YOUR BEAUTIFUL MUSIC VIDEOS ARE ALWAYS WORTH VIEWING, AND A TREAT TO LISTEN TO!!.. ..(...WITH GREAT ADVICE FOR GUITAR STUDENTS!)
I am recreational guitar player for a decade but after watch your videos I start to practicing classical guitar and I’m loving it. It’s been the better evolution I had since the first chords. Thanks a lot you’re amazing
I'm trying to play without nails after a long time playing with them. Are there particular exercises to develop a proper technique? It'd be awesome if you'd make a video about it! 😘 👍
I've been thinking of doing a follow up but the best exercise I found was playing the first string with your thumb, which always sounds great, and trying to match the sound with the fingers.
This was lovely. Really enjoyed this. I was never a particularly good teacher; but to dispel the "strong finger" myth, I would play without my thumb to demonstrate that is was my whole body playing -- not just my finger and thumb strength.
The “strong fingers” myth is sometimes applied to the piano as well. Historically, there is actually a good reason not to make your fingers “stronger”: Robert Schumann tried strengthening one of his pinkies, completely destroyed his hands in the process, and never played the piano again.
yep, even for bending it's mostly bullshit as you can just use more fingers backing it up to reinforce the bend. or god forbid, use a string gauge that's more suited for the trickery :')
Actually you need strength for playing guitar. Pros always say how beginners should play smoothly. Their fingers are so well developed that it feels smooth for them. But try practising for example a sequence with pointer as barre finger and melody on the others. Your muscles will get sore after a while because they lack the strength. I remember trying to play a single barre chord as a beginner, it wasnt possible to make every string sound smooth. And if you want to avoid the notion of raw power, then lets talk hand and forearm muscle endurance. Brandon saying that you let gravity do its work is completely wrong. You need to hook your hand with your forearm muscles. Otherwise it would fall off. When you play a technically demanding piece smoothly it means that your muscles and nerves are developed very well so they can endure the constant contracting, especially when it comes to a lot of barre chords.
Not a classical guitarist but I have really appreciated the finger nails on my picking/strum hand, the tone is so much better than a pick imo. It also helped me think twice about my nail biting habit. And one more thing, I always tune my acoustics specifically to 432hz. It literally brings me to tears when I play it.
This is great. Thanks for showing these opinions, Brandon. I had already accepted that I'd play without nails even if it meant some prejudice. I ended up finding my own way, doing tremolo, and even developing a thumb/middle finger picking that I really like for several scales and grooves.
"Don't blame your Anatomy. Fix your technique." I have a different perspective on this. Well actually, I am a piano player with small hands. Although my piano tutor was willing to teach me a piece that required advanced technical skills, I found it difficult to replicate his techniques as his fingers were about-one-joint longer than mine. Even with the same technique, different hand sizes and finger strengths may lead to interpret different sound. I struggled to practice those techniques to the point of injuring myself but still could not succeed. Eventually, after blaming my anatomy for a long time, I had to face my limitations and then decided to choose pieces that I can play comfortably. I have many favorite pieces, but I am content with listening to other artists perform them instead of torturing myself to learn them and then ending up feeling frightened.
Thank you this! I would rephrase what he said to "adapt to your anatomy" my hands as small as the one of an 8yo, I literally cannot reach the low E string of my classical guitar, it's why I gave up the first time I tried to learn. But one day I said "fuck it I'm buying a smaller guitar" and it changed everything. Because yes there is no such things as hands too small to play the guitar or the piano but we cannot act as if hands sizes didn't matter, we cannot all play the same thing on the same instruments. Sometimes its not just about technic.
Brandon, tip 5 saved my life. Lately my guitar sounded a bit dull and I couldn't flow with it and then I found out (thanks to you) changing It's pitch away from standard brings life to my instrument. Thank you so so very much for bring me and my guitar to life! I follow you for a long time now and even though I can't attend the online course I learned so much through your channel. Watching you for years now and never doubted a second. Thanks a lot.
The pioneer composers used gut strings, which from my understanding, produced a brighter sound than nylon without nails. Also terrega spent the majority of his years playing with nails before switching for a few reasons historians have hypothesized but will never know for sure. Although you don't have to use nails on nylon, the technique is way more strenuous than with nails and it just sounds worse, in my experience.
As someone who doesn't play the guitar yet, these are good things to know. Thank you Brandon!~ I'm trying to buy a guitar and your class in the future :)
My favorite classical guitar myth is that you can only play classical style music on it. I got my classical guitar because I wanted to learn the songs of Georges Brassens and Jake Thackeray, who played on a classical guitar. It's a remarkably versatile instrument that begs to be used for other styles.
I have two acoustic guitars, my ~$700 classical, and a ~$2200 steel string and I frequently find myself playing the classical more, even on styles like blues and jazz which are arguably more suited to a steel string
Glad to have found this channel, you really seem to know your stuff. I’ve played guitar on and off for almost ten years and getting back into it now, I’ve become very interested in classical guitar. So much to learn! But now I have a brand new Córdoba Fusion 12 at my disposal, very excited!
Loved the 5th tip because it reminded me of something similar that my brothers and I used to do to our Oud and Middle-Eastern Violin.. we would tune the G strings almost half a step down to F# and it would make our arabic music very different yet beautiful!
🎸Join our Zoom workshop called "Essential Warm Ups for Guitarists" arpeggiato.com/events/ This is a LIVE workshop hosted by my online music school Arpeggiato.com and led by our expert teacher Alec.
I take lessons with Alec through Arpeggiato. He's so great -- he has a fun and interesting exercise to combat every trouble this old-lady beginner encounters (and believe me, I've encountered a LOT!). I'm looking forward to the workshop!
Excuse me ...but for my lottle experience, I need to use nails to play classical guitar ! ...and unfortunayely I have problems to have strong nails ... my nails usually become broken when I try to let them grow up.... what I can do ?,
I cannot tell you how much I've needed to hear "use gravity for barring" as a teacher. I teach primarily piano but have guitar students and haven't had one get barring in a long time and this might save them some hassles
I agree on all the points you made. Especially the one that said that the guitar is an instrument for a small audience. I remember listening to Segovia in a big concert hall that held 2000 people. I still recall a thin sound not beautiful at all being lost in this big hall.
Love the video. Really like how you said you play really softly sometimes during recital and your audience sometimes leans in (out of curiosity). That is great performance advice. I think we can all agree some anatomical features of certain players makes certain techniques easier, but you are right we shouldn’t blame anatomy. I still struggle playing with my thumb wrapping around the neck on normal guitar (F shaped chords with thumb instead of using whole index finger to fret). I also feel some of my bar chords are buzzy because my fingers are scalloped shaped) I have fat knuckles (specifically at the PIP joint which makes it hard to get a knife edge to fret bar chords). However, I still believe I can find ways to improve these techniques.
👍❤️❤️❤️ It's so nice to hear someone articulate these points that I (and doubtless, countless other quiet guitarists/musicians/music lovers) have thought, practiced or wondered about for years. Absolutely love your channel and so appreciate these uploads.
this is a video I LOVE; as someone who studied (even more something like music that needs to be listened) you started with that disclaimer that i loved: first opinions are personal but the argue is needed in a serious debate, unlike people who thinks they're the best yet cannot explain their thoughts. second i absolutely loved when you said I am a serious player. we don't need in this world people that want to seem giants when it doesn't matter but when you search for a piece of advice they don't have the bravery and skills to say: that's it, i'm a pro. everyone wan want to seem giants. thank you
I just wanna say how much I love guitar. Been loving it since 1964. (Wonder why?) ;) Gonna die soon, and all I can think about is guitar. I got a couple of new / old ones last month; a 1933 Gibson and a 1963 Martin, and today all I can think about is the next one I'm about to drop more cash than I should on. Great vid, thanks Brandon!
Thank you, Brandon, for the great video. As I am getting aged, my hand nails get britle, and can't grow long enough as usual. Good to hear that long nails are not a must for playing classical guitar.
As someone who’s tried several times to learn guitar, I really enjoy your videos for perspective. My mother taught music for over 40 years but I never got anywhere with it myself because I think I just lacked proper motivation and my mother’s background was in wind and percussion. Strings were something she didn’t have the right input for.
Thank you, Brandon! I'm so tired of the long nails! I knew that Sor didn't grow them, but Tarrega too! That's good enough for me! As an intermediate guitarist I personally like using my pinky as an anchor so I know where I am in relation to the strings. Also, the muscularity and muscle memory (in those sections) is a universal truth. I taught the same concepts as a rock climber. Forget strength. Technique will get you far far farther than muscle. And when you train, train right! Because your brain remembers what you did, not whether you did it right or wrong.
Thanks for the inspiring tips. Especially on the chronic injuries. My worst chronic injury is not having practiced enough and regularly. It shows in my playing. Discipline is the biggest challenge.
The finger strengthening devices that have a a small spring for each finger, which are mostly marketed to rock climbers and sort of look like a set of trumpet valves, can be helpful for guitar- but not because it makes your fingers stronger per se. I had one for years that I treated like a fidget spinner when sitting at my desk at work, that I would use for 'finger drumming' along with whatever music I was listening to, almost like a guitar hero controller. Of course it didn't help me actually learn those songs, but it was a way to unconsciously work on finger coordination and get used to the sensation of applying pressure with different groups of fingers in different grip shapes. It was a way to make a notable improvement, however small it was, in my playing ability during time I wouldn't otherwise be able to work on any technique.
Very valuable remarks! I will certainly try out a different pitch! Playing slowly with precision is one of the best advices to learn things thoroughly . Thanks ❤
Dear Brandon! I watch your videos with so much pleasure, even when I dont agree! E.g. "short fingers" ia a real problem. No practice cannot help you to reach the 7-th fret with your little finger while making a barree on the 1-rst if your fingers aren't long enough😀 But, anyway - your attitude, your approach, your "guitar loving" which is shining all over the place, all this makes me to forget these drawbacks! I just play the pieces I can technicaly play, and there are so many of them! Enough for the rest of my life. Thank you, Brandon, you're a the best Ambassador Of Classical Guitar!
hi, lovely video and totally correct. I'm a pandemic player moment which I bought a Starter Guitar for 500€ solid Spruce top, black walnut rings, laurel arm with a trustbar and preamp (In my former life was Private Chef and business consultant... No nails on food or in love) But since a child was follower of Andrés Segovia , Yepes. etc.etc. And bought this beautiful but basic guitar which came with the String. After the first month of learning "Leyenda"I`m realized the string at 7 fret was a little bit high and start to learn how calibrate correctly the guitar, like you said, don´t care about the volume of the guitar and concentrate to the playability of the instrument. Everything change at this moment, how easy become to get the right sound in any position.
![PASULOL รามเกียรติ์ ตอนที่ 4 นนทกพบรัก [Ramakien Ep.4: Nonthok in love]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/tMUQgmZzf_A/mqdefault.jpg)
Frequently Asked Questions:
1. Why are you saying you don't have nails when we can see them at :38?
I go back and forth between playing with and without nails. In this video, I have no nail. At :38, and in the thumbnail, I am showing a clip of when I had long nails from a past video. The idea here was to show those who might not be familiar what long nails for guitar look like.
2. Isn't Tárrega a bad example of no-nail proponents because he only got rid of nails because of a disease?
It seems probably that he did lose his nails due to illness. However, after losing them and developing a no nail technique, he then went on to praise the sound and teach it to his students as an ideal.
CORRECTION: It's been pointed out to me that the image I used of a Lautenwerk might not be correct.
..,
@xfxpro650w3I think that is absolutely the case. Nails are pseudo picks which have problems. Nails provide feedback to the brain.
I'm both gonna agree and disagree on the strength myth. Of course technique trumps strength, but even with good technique you're going to realize that strength matters if you try a bunch of barre-chords on a 12-string steel stringed guitar.
But muscles also tends to make you dexterity worse - you could easily compare your dominant hand with the other... put your palms together and spread your fingers - you typically can spread your non dominant hand wider.
When I studied to become an electrician and often used pliers to cut thick wires my dexterity significantly got worse - and my brother who kept on working as an electrician could as well play with hockey gloves on.
PS. I don't like playing with nails - not found of the clickety sound or the feedback I get.
Wow sounds to me like there are a lot of pedantic people in the comment section. Dudes need to chill. This is a free video on the internet made by a dude, not a PBS special with professional researchers and fact checkers.
@@jonr4651 A commonly encountered issue these days. People forget that what someone else says is their own opinion, but what's more important, I think, is that some forget that people make these videos and that any of them can be right or wrong. Our world is not an exact science.
I spent years fighting with my poor nail condition due to the teacher, who told me I cannot play without them. The freedom I found after I just told myself I will do it my way without them gave me more than the years trying to overcome broken soft and fragile nails. Wish I found this video at that time. It would have given me the courage to do it sooner. Cheers Brandon. Love your content.
In some ways allowing your nails to grow longer and using them to play with, also makes them stronger. My guess is your picking technique may have been too heavy for what is needed. I see the same thing with people learning to play using a pick / plectrum and they almost push through a string, instead of plucking it properly. It's 99% technique and 1% nails. And that 1% is optional lol.
if you like no nails then go for it that's what matters
but you can use fake nails to strengthen your natural nails, lots of classical players do
I believe Segovia did everyone a major disservice by claiming if you don't have good strong nails you shouldn't even try to play guitar.... In spite of his masterful playing, I believe his advice was flat wrong..
Coming from acoustic fingerstyle, I was tempted to put on acrylic finger nails. The wearing of the nails by steel strings especially for contemporary playing style is just too high.
@@chrisc7265 I strongly disagree with this. No fake nail would ever be as reliable as your natural nail. I don't think it is a common thing for classical guitarists to use fake nails at all.
As a non musician I find this video quite interesting. Brandon seems like a fine teacher, genial and very well organized.
all true!
Quite interesting. High praise indeed.
Yep he sure is a true professional, & patient teacher.
Wtf is a genial
@@mizu0340 wtf?? it's an adjective
Once again, Brandon, I feel like you've been sitting in on my practice sessions. "Don't blame your anatomy, fix your technique" is something I have to remind myself often. I go through a fumble-fingered moment of "I'm just not destined to be a guitar player," and then I tell myself, you know what, millions of other people have figured this out, so maybe I can too. Classical guitar is humbling, but SO gratifying when something begins to click.
I agree; nor practice isn’t always better. A few years ago I overdid practicing a difficult Chet Atkins passage and ended up with Focal Dystonia of the hand (my right hand). It’s a neurological injury-a repetitive strain injury where the signals from the brain to the hand become confused which resulted in a slightly slower response from my middle finger. It took ages before I was diagnosed, there is no cure and it could have been avoided. It was a traumatic time; I thought my playing days were over, which was serious as I’ve only ever been a professional musician. I had to learn to play many things differently (I had no choice!) but was able to continue playing, which was the main thing. Thank you for your informative and inspirational videos. Keep up the good work!
"Well, you should have just practiced harder."
You can just feel that in your brain in the modern world. We don't really appreciate life anymore, its like we just think everything is this competition to be the best, rather than being life.
Thanks for sharing your experience. Brandon's pont on muscles in the hand is correct in my opinion. (But hard to comprehend )...My experience has been as yours to have to relearn using alternative techniques. ..for a while took ibuprofen to alleviate the pain...but haven't to play almost every day at gigs.. sometimes multiple in a single day...after a couple of years I didn't need medication had no pain...and noticed...I was playing relaxed...and my movements were efficient..the result of good practice and better technique
Sandra Romo from Mexico has recovered a lots of musicians from "disfonia tonal" please contact her.
I've been playing the guitar (casually) for 17 years or so and I've always struggled with bar chords. Your gravity based solution blew my mind😮😳😳😳 thank you so much
Love your thoughts about fingernails. I’m a retired music educator and classical guitarist was my major instrument in college. I had very brittle nails and got the lecture about having nails on my right hand. I recognized the different timbre and couldn’t understand what was so wrong about it. You’re spot on about good form, too. I played electric guitar first and had a very bad habit of allowing my thumb to creep up the back of the neck. The old muscle memory was very hard to break. It inspired me to adjust the “practice makes perfect” to “perfect practice makes perfect.” I had another one I used to preach as a teacher. We are spoon fed the 3Ps (practice, practice, practice) to become the best musician. My 3Ps are just a little different: practice, perfect, perform.
It's very encouraging to find a guitarist talking about this! I love the guitar and I was devastated when my instructor and all the guitar players i knew told me i couldn't play classical guitar without nails. But I'm a nurse, I can't grow nails! God bless you, I'm very relieved 😂
This channel is proof that the internet, social networks, you tube and so on are only means in our hands, they are neither good nor bad. What you do in your channel is fantastic and until a few years ago it was impossible to have access to such a fantastic mine of information, music and talent concentrated in one channel. So fortunately there are still good and talented people in the world like Brandon Acker, able to rise above all the squalor that often surrounds us. Thank you and I wish you many many more years of success with this amazing channel!
Regarding #4, your fingers don't have any muscles in them and are mostly controlled by tendons which extend into your wrist (and some muscles in the hand itself but mostly for side-to-side movement). This means that if you are doing this "grip strength exercises", you are just improving the muscles in your forearm/wrist and not your fingers.
Thank you for your comment - to add to the "mostly" part of it - the thumb, which is usually more than strong enough has muscle in the hand and the forearm and of course the little finger (redundant in right hand plucking for most players) has also muscles in the hand as well as the forearm. Anyone wishing to see the truth of your comment in action has only to look closely at the back of their forearm and wiggle their fingers - it surprised me when I first tried it.
As a climber I can approve your answer and actually those equipment are only useful if you want to improve your grip strength but not to have more strength on the guitare. It's not the same type of moove att all (because your pushing with the top of your fingers when you play the guitare whereas this equipment trains your ability to close your hand which is very different)
@@anthonynickson3667 To see where the muscles are in a hand, there are more than enough anatomical drawings online.
I find my forearm of my fretting hand is much stronger doing forearm curls than my right, really goes to show the degree of muscle conditioning occurs from playing an instrument for many years
I have only ever played classical guitar with nails but since I’ve started playing the lute I don’t want them. I also love the sound of no nails on the guitar. It is a very warm and intimate sound. So to learn to play without nails I file down a little every day gradually making them shorter until they are the length I want. This way it’s not an extreme change all at once. Great video Brandon.
Thank Brandon. I appreciate your insight. One thing I might add, particularly with regard to hand strength is this, you don't need to choke the strings to get good sound. I asked one of my early guitar instructors "how hard, or how much pressure do I need to apply to the strings?" He never answered the question. I later found the answer, "just hard enough to intonate the string". Too much and you bend the string out of tune. Too little and it simply does not sound or sound good. Also good finger position relative to the fret is more important that pressure against the string. Thanks again for another great video!
As a self-taught hobby guitarist I couldn't agree more with your last arguments. I've learned so many things in the wrong way that it's almost impossible to get that out of my muscle memory and I really wish I had learned all of that basics properly. Now, when I practice the right way, I see and feel how much easier and "logical" it could be, but when I play it a bit faster, I fall back into the old habits that really keep me down and prevent progress because they cost way more energy. But well... at least I have a lot of patience and keep practising :-)
I am honestly still in that phase of trying to figure out what works best for me when playing guitar. There are so many factors to think about and I honestly didn't realize how much my mindset impacted my playing and practice as well. Thank you Brandon for the constant amazing content that makes us think and rethink things!
That phase doesn't end! (But that's ok: it's a good thing.😉)
I'm a hard rock and metal guitarist. Recently, I've had to switch to bass and I found almost everything in this video applicable, so thanks very much. You and your grandpa's guitar magic are very appreciated.
Nicely done video with clear explanations. I'm not exactly a pro but I've never played classical with nails and I have tiny hands, so I can relate to the frustration as a beginner being exposed to these myths. Nowadays it's a non-issue.
When it comes to the finger strengtheners, the D'Addario one is actually quite nice since you can turn it around, and it has this sharp edge that sort of simulates a guitar string. It can be nice to keep up callouses if your without a guitar for a long time.
Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU, for your comments about how to practice! That is a huge MYTH that I challenged my students and their parents about. Please, do not practice mistakes 🙄 Much harder to fix ingrained bad habits than to play slow, deliberate, and accurate. There is a very old military typing course that was used that had you type one letter slow and meticulous - then take a break, do the same thing slowly adding one more letter with long breaks in-between... magically with seemingly no effort turning you into a decent typist. Careful correct practice brings accomplished musicians. ❤ Thanks for this video!
That worked for me! I’m now 100 WPM.
This was an excellent clinic. Several topics really drove home points for me. Small hand syndrome. And learning something by using bad techniques over and over which ends up doing more harm to player ability than almost anything else. It also wastes time. A precious commodity.
I agree with all myths. I've been playing guitar for 10 years now and I've learned on my own, with no teachers. The biggest myth i discovered was precisely about time of practice. It's a matter of cuality and not cuantity. Obviously some things will take long time but with good training in a good technique, most of the things will come easy. Nice video!!
I remember going to the Ambassador Auditorium in Pasadena. I heard Julian Bream and Göran Söllscher play (different times of course) without mics. I would always sit in the back (the cheap seats) of the auditorium; because the sound in this building resonated so well; so much so, that you didn't need to have a loud guitar.
YES!! As soon as I saw this I thought "you need nails" HAS to be first! I think that's how I first found your channel, learning classical guitar and not having nails and I wanted to know if I was wasting my time. I wasn't and I wonder how many people miss out on this amazing instrument because they believe this myth? THANK YOU!!!
This video is hella awesome. It distilled what it took me years to learn from slogging through method books and tracking down concert guitarists to get their "secrets." Now it's all out there on the tube, which will probably stimulate guitar technique to further evolve. And one more myth: you do not need perfect hair to play guitar (but it helps :)
2:30 I'm not a classical player but I encountered beginner friends with varying anatomies who prefer a classical guitar (despite not planning to learn classical style). I was baffled at first because I prefered the narrower and thinner neck of an electric as a beginner (still do). Lucky to live in a time where there are more choices
Maybe they are training themselves up to play an 8 string guitar, haha. Those necks are so wide.
I really like your take on the guitar being an instrument that pulls the audience in. I never thought of it that way.
Brandon, one thing I think many students and teachers alike overlook is learning to listen. "Standing on the shoulders" of your idols and the masters will make you a better player! I feel this is true for all forms also. From classical to death metal and everything in between. Hear it, see it and play it.
Hey Brandon. I really appreciate your vids. You mentioned. Tarrega played without nails. Awhile back you put gut stings on your guitar, and you cut your nails because you said they would cut the strings. Tarrega couldn’t use anything but gut, because they hadn’t come out with nylon yet. Love the content. Keep it up.
@Brandon Acker Thanks for another wonderful and beautiful video. Not many people would say such a down to earth and humble person is actually one of the best guitarrists out there and always shares his very deep knowledge in such a clear, concise, and relaxed way. I can only imagine him as a teacher. I also bet not many could convey so much knowledge the way he can and in the way he does. Can't wait for my hands to get better and enroll in the online school. Much respect always.
I cannot agree more on the 7th myth. I started practicing tremolo about a year ago and did not properly research the techniques. My brain was focused on speed and nothing else. Few months later, I had the speed but it sounded like a horse running, there was a tiny lag that made my tremolo sound completely off. Now, instead of trying to unlearn(which seems even more difficult) I am slowly practicing the p-i-m-i style, and hopefully I will teach myself the correct way. Cheers Brandon!! Thank you for the lessons and magnificent content!!
as a guitarist I agree with all of this and it's good you're spreading this information because it can help people learn faster.
I'm getting so good at fingernailess tremolo, thanks to your old video. Not Brandon level good, but getting there. It's so much more than simply your super helpful tips and insights, it's also your entire philosophy on life and positivity that shines through on these videos too which, has taught me so much about life through your music. I appreciate this channel so much, words can't begin to express...
maybe money can express that though haha. I have to start giving back to channels that give so much to me. Supporting content creators is the heart of youtube, and googles financial greed is the arse. We appreciate you so much Brandon (and team!)
Your channel is fantastic
your skill, breathtaking
but this particular video is something wonderful beyond just the realm of stringed instruments
the lessons you taught here can be taken with any watcher of this video to all aspects of life
thank you for that
I especially enjoyed the passage about quality over quantity when it comes to practice
and how it's just as easy to reinforce bad habits as good ones
the very best to you, always
Thanks for sharing all this experience with us,I played classical guitar in my younger days ,but family ,children ,mortgage etc took me away from the guitar, and because Ime a tradesman and work with my hands,my nails get ripped and torn all the time and was always a reason for frustration playing the guitar,great to know it’s not a problem,also I have big hands and find that a problem my fingers don’t seem to fit together,but you fixed that as well,so it’s back into the fray with less excuses and fresh perspective,thanks so much.
Myth #6 is my favorite. I grew up with a dad that only ever bought jumbo body acoustic guitars and has always told me the resonance in my guitar was terrible. I agree, it takes the charm out of the instrument and it quietness draws the listener in. Beautifully put!
Me too, number 6!
Mr Acker, years ago, when I wrote to you from Argentina and, later, from Uruguay, I mistook your certainty for arrogance. Sorry: your instructive video is spot on. Thank you. . . . May I add (to your and every other teacher's arsenal of indispensable tips) this gem: the relation of the finger impulse and strike-path to that of the thumb, is identical to (and takes advantage of) the natural thumb/finger opposition design that has come down to us through millennia:
A hand surgeon at the University of Saskatchewan (whose wife studied guitar with me) pointed out that when he reconstructed crushed hands, he attached suture (string) to the tips of each of the fingers, tying the other end of each to the same spot at the base of the thumb. Then, he simply lined up the bones in a straight line leading to the base of the thumb. (This explains our puzzling impression that every finger strike aims at the same spot on the string.)
You'll notice when playing scales, that the base of the thumb feels like a bar against which each finger stroke lands, freeing the hand and arm from the tension-producing jerk of hand and arm when the potential energy in the initially yielding first joint of each playing finger snaps free of the string (rest- or free-stroke) . . . exactly like snapping your fingers on getting a good idea, when everything falls into place.)
I picked up my first classical guitar over the weekend (yippee!). I also play the harp and can't have long nails, so I'll be learning the fleshy finger technique! I've started Brandon's online course and it is fantastic. Very well organized and easy to follow. Highly recommend.
I’ve known several harp players who play with nails so yes, you can have long nails.
Thank you! I never had good reasoning for string tension before. Since I have no goals of playing in a huge loud concert hall, so I’m going to experiment with lower tension strings! And of course, nail retention was always nerve-racking when a concert was approaching. I don’t know how many times I ripped a nail before I had to perform.
Recomiendo mucho leer los consejos del maestro uruguayo Abel Carlevaro, al respecto de la posición del cuerpo, la sujeción de la,guitarra, la manera de pulsar las cuerdas, etc. Su lectura dará que pensar al futuro guitarrista y le ayudará a establecer las bases para un aprendizaje fructífero. Saludos desde España y un abrazo para Brandon.
Thank you so much for debunking the “you need big hands” myth. I’m a petite person with small hands and I agree that with practice I can adopt to playing on the larger classical guitar frets just as I was able to adapt to playing complex chords and arpeggios on the piano.
Great video Brandon! Your tremolo technique is so clean. Very inspiring!
Thanks so much!
As a beginning guitarist, I struggled with the F major barre chord. A few months after I started studying, an old friend with short stubby fingers came over to my house and played some amazing music on the very guitar that I had purchased. I noticed he very adeptly played multiple barre chords. I know he never formally studied, so I asked him how he learned. He replied that he bought a couple of books and practiced a lot. With that advice, I worked at it and eventually learned that chord. The journey continues.
Glad to see that you are growing so much Brandon! You made me love classical guitar! Keep up the amazing work!
Nice, this is both basic skills and things you will need to learn later. Thank you. It is always good to see a really good player explain things clearly.
Since I play with nails I can not play guitar without them. I am way to quiet an can not play tremolo good
I feel like I can play a lot more types of sounds with nails than without. I can make very sharp and edgy sounds but also very warm and soothing sounds, that way I can make the piece I am playing a lot more divergent. The key is to take care of your nails well and in my opinion adjust the length… to the type of piece you are playing. I tend to have ‘medium’ nails when playing baroque music and shorter ones when playing tremolo pieces!
@@floriselouard5098 totally agree but I prefer longer nails for tremolo because than you don't have to be so careful how you touch the string.
switched to no nails coz I started learning piano. Everything sounds bad af at first, but now I can do tremolo pretty well now.
I like having nails too. I can play both ways but with nails i can get more volume for flamenco style music and i can still use the fleshy parts for a warmer tone if i want that (which i do normally for my steel string)
@@ohoangthien1551 oh nice I also play some piano and sometimes my nails are really confusing so if I want to do a big piano session I make my nails extremely short
I have played without nails for 32 of the 58 years I have played classical guitar. I was blessed by having Emilio Pujol's teaching assistant, Hector Garcia Hernandez, as my teacher. So I have the rational and experience of both formats, as did Garcia before studying with Emilio Pujol. It is a discovery process, sound, history, etc., and the guitarists, composers, and artisans who understood this format. Playing without nails can be as simple as no nails. Period. Or, extremely short nails as Virginia Luque. Pujol did not teach this process but allowed the student to discover their own path. Today it is fully accepted that playing with nails is mandatory, and in some circles this is prevalent. Globally that myth is challenged. So it is the dilemma of timbre that is the conversation, and personal preference. No you can't simply cut your nails and voila, you're set...instead it is a process , an engaging one at that!
I have been playing with no nails ever since I watched the video where you cut your nails. I love the sound and the feeling is so therapeutic and makes me feel so in touch with my guitar (edit goddam I just realized it's a pun and ruined my entire message)
So wonderful to hear and see your opinion! Especially delighted that you’ve added a historical perspective.I’ve never played with nails or a pick. I pluck, I like the way the strings feel on my fingertips, both nylon and steel. I use my thumb for plucking bass line. Picks always seemed to slow me down. 🙌No nails makes it have a more woodsy, natural mellow sound. But, it is how I play. I’m glad to hear that it is appreciated by some of the masters. Thank you🫶this is what was looking for. I still like a tuning fork😊
I agree with most of the statements. But a few remarks. First. Don't ignore your anatomy completely! Yes, in the beginning you should be patient and focus on the right technique. But if you don't get it right after a reasonable time, do consider your anatomy. A simple inspection and analysis of what goes wrong may help you more than desperately trying again and again, until you ruin your joints, tendons or hands irreversibly, not to mention general harm to your health. Self mutilation did and does occur with some players. So be warned. I had a problem with barre chords and tried every possible technique there is, for a long time. After watching the inside of my index finger I realized it was simply physically impossible. I fixed it with wrapping some tape at certain positions of the finger: problem solved! Second: I love shorter scale lengths, the ideal size for me is 24.75 inch (62.865 cm). The difference between 64 and 65 cm is too small to have effect. But, finding a factory built classical guitar with a 24.75 inch scale, but otherwise a normal sized body, is very hard to find, and it's getting worse with the years. I think it's for commercial reasons. Third: I prefer to play always with A = 440 Hz because it's the only way to develop some sense of absolute pitch and maintain the connection between the music in your head and the instrument. It has been shown that people with absolute pitch get confused if they are exposed for some time to another tuning standard, which by the way proves that absolute pitch is more a kind of good long term sound memory rather than some mysterious gift.
Thanks to you ive cut my nails after your gut strung version of Dowlands Pavan. Ive ordered the sweat gut strings from kurschner and after 1,5 months without nails after 3 years playing nylon and later nylgut strings i would say that the no nail brings a warmer. fuller and more beautiful authentic sound without any plastic sounds hidden in it. Its still alot of practice cause you have to some kind of learn it from start again to get the sound without nails that you are looking for.
To the tuning part ive played 1 year in 440Hz and switched to 432 Hz, now its in 408 Hz Eflat from the 432 Hz tuning and to me it sounds more natural and brings more authentic flair to the old music.
Thanks for your being and your steady inspiration i still cant wait until i have enough money to buy my first 7 course ren Lute. 🥰🎶
My drum teacher always told me, “Practice doesn’t make perfect; it makes permanent.”
Great video. I studied some classical guitar at university but eventually mostly abandoned it in favour of steel string and other instruments and styles because of the nails, posture, and holds orthodoxy. A few years ago I got interested in early music and started researching early guitars and lute family instruments and eventually arrived at playing low tension strings, tuned down a half step, with finger tips and using a strap rather than a stool or some hold assist. Never been happier.
Sometimes the academy can be stifling in that sense. Music is one of those topics that seems to collect myths about tradition and 'correct' ways of doing things to a high degree and I really encourage anyone who finds that discouraging to get out and do their own research. There have always been many, diverse ways of doing things. The idea that there is a single correct way to play really only applies for people who are intending to pursue international competition or playing large concert halls. Play music how you want!
The fingernails became a thing for me in my first year of music school. I was a guitar major taking classical lessons, but also playing a lot of electric bass and leaning more in a jazz direction. Those nails that gave a bright crisp sound on the guitar got in the way of the clean warm articulation that I wanted on the bass. I ended up switching my major instrument to upright bass and cutting my nails. But honestly, I liked the sound and feel of classical guitar without nails.
Thank you for busting these myths. After my classical guitar education I dropped playing with nails and it helped me a lot to be more accurate in timing and still could find all the sounds I needed while warm sounds were much easier to get. I eventually dropped classical music because it wasn't my passion. I do like Tarrega, Bach but a lot of repertoire was not my taste and wanted to create my own music and improvise. Now I play electric, steel string and classical guitar mostly fingerstyle in the pop, jazz genre. I'm interested in how you look at being left or right handed. I'm left-handed playing right handed and was worried about that a long time. Now I feel it's about synchronisation of both hands and often find out I'm actually focused on the wrong hand while working out a difficult part. Another interesting topic is the lack of improvisation and also playing by ear in classical training . Thanks for the video
So tremolo is possible, even established, without Freddy Kruger nails. I so needed to hear that from a serious classical guitarist! Very motivating.
Have you ever heard of the romantic guitar? It is meant to be played without nails. Personally, tremolo without nails sounds weak, it depends of the usage of course.
I mostly play with nails (I'm a former classical guitarist) because the attack is precise and the timbre is pretty diverse. Also that punchy tone that properly sanded nails give.
To all of you with weak nails, if you are beginner, your nails will become stronger after the first year. Trust me
Hey love the video! I though you might like this quote I learned many years ago
"Practice makes permanence. Only perfect practice makes perfect playing."
Excellent piece and well supported positions. The only suggestion for the "nails" discussion may be to differentiate nail length. Modest nail length allows some expression control between "only nail" and "nail and fingertip" strokes. Long nails may be less expressive "only nail" strokes, perhaps with other advantages. Great job!
Just last week I tuned my guitar a half step down and I was surprised by how good and warm it sounded. Now I have a hard time going back to the standard tunning
Great video Brandon. I completely agree with your comments about Practice. I say something similar, "Its not practice makes perfect. Perfect practice makes perfect."
Switching to playing without nails has made most of the music I play more coherent by reducing the contrast in tone, but there are pieces that benefit from a more contrasty tone.
I have been interested in getting into playing classical and bossa nova guitar. However, I have seriously considered not even starting because I assumed that long nails were a requirement. I cannot stand having long nails. I am so relieved to hear that these are not required. Thank you for your videos!
Your video on 5 common practice mistakes was also excellent!
something to consider is that during the time of Sor and Tarrega, they did not have metal wound or nylon strings.
Gut strings feel really different and would most likely have accellerated wear if played with nails.
While I feel I can play without nails, I feel as though my tone is much more limited as is my overall volume. Speed is also affected, but probably due to the fact that my brain is trying to compensate for the different feel/sound.
For one of my exams, I had a nail crack during practice. I ended up gluing a cut up ping-pong ball, filing it down to size and attached it via super-glue.
desperate? yes but it worked a pinch. Would have been unable to perform under the pressure otherwise.
I personally don't play with nails. My mother tells me about a friend of hers who did the ping-pong ball trick all the time.
without nail you need different hand angle and technique
THANK YOU!!!, BRANDON. YOUR BEAUTIFUL MUSIC VIDEOS ARE ALWAYS WORTH VIEWING, AND A TREAT TO LISTEN TO!!.. ..(...WITH GREAT ADVICE FOR GUITAR STUDENTS!)
I am recreational guitar player for a decade but after watch your videos I start to practicing classical guitar and I’m loving it.
It’s been the better evolution I had since the first chords.
Thanks a lot you’re amazing
You must be right because I agree with you! Especially about the charm of older, quieter guitars. I always appreciate your posts, thank you!
I'm trying to play without nails after a long time playing with them. Are there particular exercises to develop a proper technique? It'd be awesome if you'd make a video about it! 😘 👍
I've been thinking of doing a follow up but the best exercise I found was playing the first string with your thumb, which always sounds great, and trying to match the sound with the fingers.
@@brandonacker very interesting, I'll try, thanks!
This was lovely. Really enjoyed this.
I was never a particularly good teacher; but to dispel the "strong finger" myth, I would play without my thumb to demonstrate that is was my whole body playing -- not just my finger and thumb strength.
The “strong fingers” myth is sometimes applied to the piano as well. Historically, there is actually a good reason not to make your fingers “stronger”: Robert Schumann tried strengthening one of his pinkies, completely destroyed his hands in the process, and never played the piano again.
Fingers technically don't have muscles.
See also: nerve entrapment syndrome in musicians
@@russellzauner That’s interesting. Thanks.
yep, even for bending it's mostly bullshit as you can just use more fingers backing it up to reinforce the bend.
or god forbid, use a string gauge that's more suited for the trickery :')
Actually you need strength for playing guitar. Pros always say how beginners should play smoothly. Their fingers are so well developed that it feels smooth for them. But try practising for example a sequence with pointer as barre finger and melody on the others. Your muscles will get sore after a while because they lack the strength. I remember trying to play a single barre chord as a beginner, it wasnt possible to make every string sound smooth. And if you want to avoid the notion of raw power, then lets talk hand and forearm muscle endurance. Brandon saying that you let gravity do its work is completely wrong. You need to hook your hand with your forearm muscles. Otherwise it would fall off. When you play a technically demanding piece smoothly it means that your muscles and nerves are developed very well so they can endure the constant contracting, especially when it comes to a lot of barre chords.
Ive been tuning my guitars to A=432hz for years and have loved it for years.
Not a classical guitarist but I have really appreciated the finger nails on my picking/strum hand, the tone is so much better than a pick imo. It also helped me think twice about my nail biting habit. And one more thing, I always tune my acoustics specifically to 432hz. It literally brings me to tears when I play it.
This is great. Thanks for showing these opinions, Brandon.
I had already accepted that I'd play without nails even if it meant some prejudice. I ended up finding my own way, doing tremolo, and even developing a thumb/middle finger picking that I really like for several scales and grooves.
"Don't blame your Anatomy. Fix your technique."
I have a different perspective on this. Well actually, I am a piano player with small hands. Although my piano tutor was willing to teach me a piece that required advanced technical skills, I found it difficult to replicate his techniques as his fingers were about-one-joint longer than mine. Even with the same technique, different hand sizes and finger strengths may lead to interpret different sound. I struggled to practice those techniques to the point of injuring myself but still could not succeed. Eventually, after blaming my anatomy for a long time, I had to face my limitations and then decided to choose pieces that I can play comfortably. I have many favorite pieces, but I am content with listening to other artists perform them instead of torturing myself to learn them and then ending up feeling frightened.
Thank you this! I would rephrase what he said to "adapt to your anatomy" my hands as small as the one of an 8yo, I literally cannot reach the low E string of my classical guitar, it's why I gave up the first time I tried to learn. But one day I said "fuck it I'm buying a smaller guitar" and it changed everything. Because yes there is no such things as hands too small to play the guitar or the piano but we cannot act as if hands sizes didn't matter, we cannot all play the same thing on the same instruments. Sometimes its not just about technic.
Brandon, tip 5 saved my life. Lately my guitar sounded a bit dull and I couldn't flow with it and then I found out (thanks to you) changing It's pitch away from standard brings life to my instrument. Thank you so so very much for bring me and my guitar to life! I follow you for a long time now and even though I can't attend the online course I learned so much through your channel. Watching you for years now and never doubted a second. Thanks a lot.
The pioneer composers used gut strings, which from my understanding, produced a brighter sound than nylon without nails. Also terrega spent the majority of his years playing with nails before switching for a few reasons historians have hypothesized but will never know for sure. Although you don't have to use nails on nylon, the technique is way more strenuous than with nails and it just sounds worse, in my experience.
If you are going to play without nail you should use nygut or gut. No nail playing sounds weak on nylon.
As someone who doesn't play the guitar yet, these are good things to know. Thank you Brandon!~
I'm trying to buy a guitar and your class in the future :)
My favorite classical guitar myth is that you can only play classical style music on it. I got my classical guitar because I wanted to learn the songs of Georges Brassens and Jake Thackeray, who played on a classical guitar. It's a remarkably versatile instrument that begs to be used for other styles.
I have two acoustic guitars, my ~$700 classical, and a ~$2200 steel string and I frequently find myself playing the classical more, even on styles like blues and jazz which are arguably more suited to a steel string
Beatles used classical guitars in many of their songs. It’s a ”sound”, just like a steel string or a 12 string guitar
Glad to have found this channel, you really seem to know your stuff. I’ve played guitar on and off for almost ten years and getting back into it now, I’ve become very interested in classical guitar. So much to learn! But now I have a brand new Córdoba Fusion 12 at my disposal, very excited!
My beard gets in the way of fretting sometimes...that's not a myth...
🤣
Loved the 5th tip because it reminded me of something similar that my brothers and I used to do to our Oud and Middle-Eastern Violin.. we would tune the G strings almost half a step down to F# and it would make our arabic music very different yet beautiful!
🎸Join our Zoom workshop called "Essential Warm Ups for Guitarists" arpeggiato.com/events/
This is a LIVE workshop hosted by my online music school Arpeggiato.com and led by our expert teacher Alec.
I take lessons with Alec through Arpeggiato. He's so great -- he has a fun and interesting exercise to combat every trouble this old-lady beginner encounters (and believe me, I've encountered a LOT!). I'm looking forward to the workshop!
Fingers technically don't have muscles.
See also: ulnar entrapment in musicians
Can't wait for my hands to get better so I can enroll!
As i can' thank Brando for his lesson,
(my computer does not respond.)
i'm glad my guitar does,
so i shall thank him thus.
Excuse me ...but for my lottle experience, I need to use nails to play classical guitar ! ...and unfortunayely I have problems to have strong nails ... my nails usually become broken when I try to let them grow up.... what I can do ?,
Grate content and humble approach, we need a lot more of this! Bravo * Stand and applaud *
Very comforting and thorough explanation, totally logical and complete.
Nice job and very enlightening and most players would envy someone like bassist Billy Sheehans' blistering 3 finger tremolo playing
I cannot tell you how much I've needed to hear "use gravity for barring" as a teacher. I teach primarily piano but have guitar students and haven't had one get barring in a long time and this might save them some hassles
I agree on all the points you made. Especially the one that said that the guitar is an instrument for a small audience. I remember listening to Segovia in a big concert hall that held 2000 people. I still recall a thin sound not beautiful at all being lost in this big hall.
Love the video. Really like how you said you play really softly sometimes during recital and your audience sometimes leans in (out of curiosity). That is great performance advice. I think we can all agree some anatomical features of certain players makes certain techniques easier, but you are right we shouldn’t blame anatomy. I still struggle playing with my thumb wrapping around the neck on normal guitar (F shaped chords with thumb instead of using whole index finger to fret). I also feel some of my bar chords are buzzy because my fingers are scalloped shaped) I have fat knuckles (specifically at the PIP joint which makes it hard to get a knife edge to fret bar chords). However, I still believe I can find ways to improve these techniques.
👍❤️❤️❤️ It's so nice to hear someone articulate these points that I (and doubtless, countless other quiet guitarists/musicians/music lovers) have thought, practiced or wondered about for years. Absolutely love your channel and so appreciate these uploads.
man that piece u play in the intro never gets old, its like u play it a little better every time
this is a video I LOVE;
as someone who studied (even more something like music that needs to be listened) you started with that disclaimer that i loved:
first opinions are personal but the argue is needed in a serious debate, unlike people who thinks they're the best yet cannot explain their thoughts.
second i absolutely loved when you said I am a serious player. we don't need in this world people that want to seem giants when it doesn't matter but when you search for a piece of advice they don't have the bravery and skills to say: that's it, i'm a pro. everyone wan
want to seem giants.
thank you
I just wanna say how much I love guitar. Been loving it since 1964. (Wonder why?) ;)
Gonna die soon, and all I can think about is guitar. I got a couple of new / old ones last month; a 1933 Gibson and a 1963 Martin, and today all I can think about is the next one I'm about to drop more cash than I should on.
Great vid, thanks Brandon!
Thank you, Brandon, for the great video. As I am getting aged, my hand nails get britle, and can't grow long enough as usual. Good to hear that long nails are not a must for playing classical guitar.
For not native speakers like me, it's a fun to listen you. Your pronunciation sounds good and clear.
As someone who’s tried several times to learn guitar, I really enjoy your videos for perspective. My mother taught music for over 40 years but I never got anywhere with it myself because I think I just lacked proper motivation and my mother’s background was in wind and percussion. Strings were something she didn’t have the right input for.
Thank you, Brandon! I'm so tired of the long nails! I knew that Sor didn't grow them, but Tarrega too! That's good enough for me! As an intermediate guitarist I personally like using my pinky as an anchor so I know where I am in relation to the strings. Also, the muscularity and muscle memory (in those sections) is a universal truth. I taught the same concepts as a rock climber. Forget strength. Technique will get you far far farther than muscle. And when you train, train right! Because your brain remembers what you did, not whether you did it right or wrong.
Thanks for the inspiring tips. Especially on the chronic injuries. My worst chronic injury is not having practiced enough and regularly. It shows in my playing. Discipline is the biggest challenge.
Thank you for yet another lovely segment. I appreciate your insights & love learning from you.
The finger strengthening devices that have a a small spring for each finger, which are mostly marketed to rock climbers and sort of look like a set of trumpet valves, can be helpful for guitar- but not because it makes your fingers stronger per se. I had one for years that I treated like a fidget spinner when sitting at my desk at work, that I would use for 'finger drumming' along with whatever music I was listening to, almost like a guitar hero controller. Of course it didn't help me actually learn those songs, but it was a way to unconsciously work on finger coordination and get used to the sensation of applying pressure with different groups of fingers in different grip shapes. It was a way to make a notable improvement, however small it was, in my playing ability during time I wouldn't otherwise be able to work on any technique.
'Quality over quantity when practicing' - I really needed to hear this. Thank you!
Very valuable remarks! I will certainly try out a different pitch! Playing slowly with precision is one of the best advices to learn things thoroughly . Thanks ❤
Dear Brandon!
I watch your videos with so much pleasure, even when I dont agree!
E.g. "short fingers" ia a real problem. No practice cannot help you to reach the 7-th fret with your little finger while making a barree on the 1-rst if your fingers aren't long enough😀
But, anyway - your attitude, your approach, your "guitar loving" which is shining all over the place, all this makes me to forget these drawbacks! I just play the pieces I can technicaly play, and there are so many of them! Enough for the rest of my life.
Thank you, Brandon, you're a the best Ambassador Of Classical Guitar!
hi, lovely video and totally correct. I'm a pandemic player moment which I bought a Starter Guitar for 500€ solid Spruce top, black walnut rings, laurel arm with a trustbar and preamp (In my former life was Private Chef and business consultant... No nails on food or in love) But since a child was follower of Andrés Segovia , Yepes. etc.etc. And bought this beautiful but basic guitar which came with the String. After the first month of learning "Leyenda"I`m realized the string at 7 fret was a little bit high and start to learn how calibrate correctly the guitar, like you said, don´t care about the volume of the guitar and concentrate to the playability of the instrument. Everything change at this moment, how easy become to get the right sound in any position.